I am going to start off saying I am by no means an expert at this next topic...heck I'm a rank amateur. I am, however, learning all I can about this topic and most of all I'm loving the process. What am I talking about? sourdough bread making. Huh? you say. I started reading about this method of making bread quite innocently one night and I became obsessed with the idea. You can actually make bread without commercial yeast added using only cultures that you grew on your own made out of water and flour. My interest was peaked.
I started to Google this subject and was overwhelmed with the amount of information that exists on this subject and before long it was after midnight. I printed off this detailed tutorial and filed it in my recipe binder under breads. The next morning I woke up all bleary eyed but ready to tackle the exciting world of sourdough bread....How pathetic does that sound? I found the perfect jar to house my little "pet yeast" in and mixed the required amount of 1 cup of water and 1 cup flour, gave it a good stir and set it on a shelf that sits over our wood stove. Every morning and evening for approximately a week I feed stash by pouring out half and replacing this with an additional cup of water and flour. They say anywhere from 2-7 days (mine always takes 7) you should start to see activity forming by the presence of tiny bubbles. How I determined the yeast was active was approximately one hour after adding the flour and water I would see the yeast creep all the way up the jar then slowly recede back down. From what I understand this is the active cultures eating the addition of food.
When the jar has done this several times and there are plenty of bubbles after adding food, the starter is ready to use in a recipe. I made the recipe that the site recommended and have had initial success, subsequent failure, failure again and back to somewhat success. Needless to say I have a great deal to learn. What I do know is the outcome of your bread depends solely on the quality of your starter. My first batch was fine and I did not realize how good is was until I tossed it and tried again only to end up with a jar full of fuzzy starter. There is a scientific reason why the yeast activates and why it does not but I am not going to attempt to explain it because, well my mommy drained brain can barely comprehend Bo on the go lately. If you are interested check it out here. The third batch came out great but the taste was not the classic sour taste that true sourdough bread has.
The nice thing about sourdough is once the starter is formed you can keep it dormant in the fridge for quite some time, same as regular commercial yeast. When the newly created starter is ready and active you can make a loaf right away or store in in the door of the fridge to use at a later date. To use the starter from the fridge you have to remove one cup from the stash and add to it one cup of water and flour. Do the same with the remaining starter in the jar and leave at room temperature until you see activity (aka bubbles) once this happens return to fridge for later use. The newly formed stash should be stirred and covered overnight to be ready to bake with in the morning.
I typically do this step the night before I plan to bake bread. In the morning the started is "proofed" and ready to be baked with. From here I would direct you to the detailed instructions on this site. Basically I add 2 1/2 cups starter and 1 1/2 cups of flour with some salt and knead for no less than 10 minutes. I am constantly adding flour to create a dough that is not sticky and pliable. I toss it in a coated bowl, cover and let sit in a draft free place until doubled in size (this could take anywhere from 3 - 5 hours). Hopefully this is complete by noon and I then punch it down and divide and shape placing in my greased pans to be returned to the draft free place for another 3-5 hours. Normally this has risen by dinner time and is ready to be cooked...keyword "normally"
Guaranteed instant satisfaction does not apply to this form of making bread, if you are looking for that, stick to instant yeast. This does, however, give you the best tasting (unique) flavour and the chewiest fulfilling texture. Additionally as a fermented product there are many health benefits for eating this type of bread, for more info on this read here. I know with a little patience and practice I will master the art of sourdough bread making and so will you.
If nothing else my little guy likes it... then again he likes blue chalk so I am not sure that is the best gauge
Sourdough baking - by S. John Ross
Video on how to make wild sourdough starter
Keeper of the home
Nourishing Gourmet